


And the sky fell apart

by loOkReBbEcCa_dUcKs



Category: No Fandom
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28980285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loOkReBbEcCa_dUcKs/pseuds/loOkReBbEcCa_dUcKs
Summary: this is basically a short story I wrote about alternative superheroes.





	And the sky fell apart

1.

-Where are you?

Night time is cold.

-Who are you?

Daytime is hot.

-Where do you want to be?

Nobody comes through these parts anymore.

-Where aren't you?

Living on the outskirts of dSore gets lonely.

-But more importantly...

Living alone gets lonely.

-...Where are they?

I wouldn't have it any other way.

I stare at the sand and broken hourglass, remembering how I got here. The flames of the fire in front of me swallow the unfortunate pieces of wood that fell into the fire pit when the antique time-counting device was smashed. I sit down with my tin can of non-perishable food that I would like to call ravioli but in reality looks more like a mixture of phlegm and wet cement. That was unimportant though, because I had a job to do and a promise to keep.

This evening, we reminisce.

We remember the forgotten, we break the fixed and speak of the banished.

This evening, we are the only thing holding the sky together, and we see no reason not to let go.

2.

Let's start many years ago, to the beginning of Emperor Romats' dastardly scheme involving the take over of Clough Region and The Wals. There were four cities, four rulers, four lifestyles. These cities were located at the peak of the enchanted Clyphe Cliffs. dSore Region, Clough Region and The Wals were located on the west facing cliffs whereas Void City was on the east side, connected to the other three cities via a large bridge, Vinculum,

into dSore Region. The bridge no longer stands.

Emperor Romats was the current ruler of dSore Region and felt its size wasn't enough as more space meant a bigger population which led to more people paying ridiculous taxes. Before Emperor Romats, dSore was a happy, colourful place where individuality was implored, but things soon changed when taxes were too high, too frequent and in streets where bright graffiti used to inhabit, families held camp with boxed-up possessions and eviction notices. The poorer parts became grey and hard to remember where the rich streets became richer and blue with the electricity flowing through the city's veins.

Soon Romats was in a heated argument with Stell Wilson, Ruler of Clough, who had found Romats private army, working under his instructions, draining Cloughs liquid electricity supply. She went absolutely berserk. Romats killed her with his own two hands and claimed Clough Region for himself. After that, he went after The Wals. He did this quite simply by sending the twin Empress' Mischa and Korie a pair of private assassins. Merely hours after their deaths he was settling into their roles as co-rulers of The Wals.

At this point, I was aware of Romats plans as I worked beneath him in the dSore palace, and decided to leave my metaphorical resignation on his metaphorical desk. I packed my things, grabbed my handheld telecommunicator and ray gun, and headed out. I knew precisely who I was going to call straight away.

3.

As I walked through the palace gates, something inside me dropped. It was the same feeling that you get when you're walking down stairs and you miss a step, but at the same time it felt like a new part of me was growing and thriving in my stomach.

I continued down the clear path, watching the liquid energy river run beneath the glass under my feet, and made the call.

"Flour Scenes Bakery, what is the topic of your call?" answered a gruff voice. I instantly recognised it as Finnegan Frank, but he was not who I wanted to speak to.

"Mr. Frank? Is Kiara there?" I queried.

"Kiara isn't home at the minute, but is that really you? Are you coming home?"

I couldn't get his hopes up by telling him I was returning to stay but I also didn't want to let him down. So I compromised with my answer.

"Sort of..." I told him, "...it's complicated."

There was silence for a while before I heard a partially audible "oh" from the other end.

"Is Kyle home?"

This would be my last shot before I would have to hitchhike all the way to Void City.

"Umm...Yeah, just a minute."

I was able to identify some distant shuffling and maybe a door slamming before I heard Mr. Frank yelling after his only son.

"He'll be down in a minute, just sit tight."

I needed Kyle because I needed to pair one of the public teleporters with the one in the Frank household, and I couldn't do it alone as private teleporters have smart locks, meaning only expected guests can land in the dock, so I needed Kyle to let me in.

"Hello?" another voice asked. This voice wasn't as gruff as the former and was sharp in all the right places.

"Kyle?" I said, sounding quite uncertain, due to the fact the last time I heard his voice was when I was fifteen, and boy, had it changed since then. His voice was higher, girlier but it still had the sharpness of a knife. That had always stood out about Kyle, the way his voice seemed sharp, like he could mortally wound you with his tongue, yet he was one of the purest, most kindhearted people on this planet.

I heard a shuffle that sounded vaguely like someone pulling out a chair and sitting down before he exclaimed my name like it was breaking news.

"Before you get too excited, I'm gonna need a ride home" A pause "via the teleporter."

I could practically hear the expletives rolling around his brain. He hated using that thing due to the fact that he could pull apart anything in void city to find how it was made, make adjustments and add design features, except for the teleporters. But I knew he would say yes to me.

A distant sigh, and then "alright, fine. Tell me the sort code for the trashcan express you'll be riding in and I'll have you here in no time."

I wandered over to the side of the street to where the teleporters were located. They were lined up on the curb, like huge, electricity powered telephone boxes, except instead of calling someone, you went to the nearest teleporter dock to the place you wanted to go. I glanced up at the large grey and blue contraption in front of me, a moment of thought for the place I had spent the last four years as a worker, before stepping in and reading out a small line of numbers that were etched just above the doorway.

"Ok you should be moving any minute now." was the last thing I heard before I became weightless and intangible, no longer visible to the people in the glass streets below me as I was shot across dSore. The next thing I knew, the wooden floor of a very familiar room was beneath my feet and the smile of a very familiar someone was in my eyeline.

"Welcome back, squirt" Kyle exclaimed, before capturing me in a bone-wrecking bear hug.

I rolled my eyes at the nickname he'd given me as a kid.

"It's good to see you, four years is far too long to go without your witty comments or incredible nerve." he said, not breaking the hug.

I wish I could've stayed, I wish my childhood didn't end, but I had to go, the bakery would've shut down otherwise, we needed the money.

"God, I missed you," I said with what air hadn't been knocked out of my lungs by the hug. "do you know exactly how many hugs and warm welcomes like that I received at the palace?" I said, breaking contact with Kyle so he could lead me out of the attic to the rest of the house.

He looked at me, raised an eyebrow and said "don't tell me the statistics if they're disappointing."

I giggled like a teenage girl at that before saying a mere "Zero."

His mouth opened wide in a comical manner and his hand clutched onto his heart as if it was about to explode. Four words popped into my head as this happened: roll on the melodrama.

Eventually we were at his bedroom door. As we entered, I noticed there were still three beds in here. One was draped in pastel blue throws and blankets that just screamed Kyle, another was draped in the same sort of fashion except it was a cute baby pink colour, clearly belonging to Kiara. The last bed was right next to a large window, and looked as if it was exactly how I left it, plain white sheets were crumpled and only covering half of the bed, an oversized green blanket was hung cautiously on the top left corner of the mattress and, if I was correct, my sketchbook was still under the fluffy white pillow, pleading to be found again. I reached out to claim it and as soon as I felt the leather binding, a film reel of memories flashed behind my eyes, me sketching the skyline through the window from my bed, me hoarding my thoughts, feelings, plans in paint, graphite, chalk and oil.

I heard someone drop something solid from behind me before a squeal was released and before I knew it, I was wrapped up in another hug, but this time, the perpetrator was behind me. I recognised the arms around me instantly due to the extensive amount of pastel bracelets on her arms.

"Kiara!" I squealed.

She released me from the hug and I took in her appearance. Short, pastel pink hair hung over her stunning features and her body was sheathed in matching pastel clothes. It was a hard look to pull off, but somehow she managed.

"Four years, not a single word from you and now you just show up out of the blue!"

4.

I spent the next week in the Frank household. On the first night I decided I would fill Kiara and Kyle in on Emperor Romats' plans. On the second night Kiara and Kyle decided to fill me in on strange going ons in their lives. Apparently they could both recite every fighter stance and move in existence alongside being able to fight like trained assassins. They discovered this around a year after I left when they embarked in play-fighting over nothing substantial and Kiara ended up dislocating Kyle's shoulder after flawlessly flipping him over in one swift movement.

A few days later, we were sitting in the bedroom when I did something unexplainable. Kyle and I were joking around when Kiara walked in and asked us what we were laughing about. I shot Kyle a look that said don't say anything. We tried to keep straight faces but as soon as we made eye contact with each other, there was no chance of us ever stopping our laughter. That was until Kyle collapsed with his head in my lap. I tried to swat him on the temple with my hand, only to find it sliding straight through the skin on his temple, past his skull and into his brain. I screamed before pulling my hand out and not long after was Kiara screaming too. Kyle looked at us with a raised eyebrow before wincing and clutching his forehead.

"Ah! Ow, I think i've got a migraine..." He said standing up. "I'm just gonna go lie-" and before we knew what was happening, he passed out, centimeters from his bed.

I turned to Kiara, fear lodged in each of our eyes.

"I caused that!" I said, less of a shout and more of a broken up whine.

I couldn't believe what was happening, I couldn't believe what I'd done.

When we were younger, everyone used to call us three triplets, not because we looked alike or shared the same mother, but because we did everything together. We were also bound by fourteen. Kiara and Kyle were both born on August 14th whilst I was born on the fourteenth day of September. We thought it was mere coincidence back then, but little did we know the greater forces at work.

Kyle awoke an hour later with many questions, so we had to tell him what I'd done.

"Wait, so you're telling me that you went inside my brain with your fingers?" He couldn't comprehend what we were saying.

"Sick." He said. I shot him a concerned look, trying to read the room.

Kiara looked plain dumbfounded while Kyle, well, Kyle was simply buzzing.

"What do you mean 'sick'?" his response had stumped me, to say the least.

"I mean, you're part of the gang." He paused as a look of realization spread over Kiara's face,"ya know, the supernatural squad." he said, doing little comical hand gestures.

"Wait, you're not referring to your unexplained fighting skills? For all I know you could just be lying, or you could've learnt all that whilst I was away." I shouldn't've gotten angry but in my defence, I was going through some stuff with the whole touching my best friends brain thing.

Instead of starting a blazing row, Kiara spoke up.

"How about we don't argue and think of a way we could use this against Romats, before he ambushes Sargeant Cer."

So that's what we did.

5.

We had a plan, we had a theory, we had a cause.

Kiara told us of a group of misfits she'd heard about from a friend who had joined them, and whereabouts to find them. They were located in outer Void City and were known as the Void City Sunraes. They consisted of a group of young adults, all born on the fourteenth, just like us.

We had a plan, we had a theory, we had a cause, we just needed it to run smoothly.

Early one morning, we packed up a change of clothes, food and water and any other necessities. One at a time we piled into the teleporter and shot ourselves off to the nearest public dock to the Sunreas' hangout. From the dock, it would be a ten minute walk to the hangout. When we landed, we noted that the sun hadn't yet risen. The streets were empty and worn looking. Graffiti littered the walls and sidewalk along with broken bottles and rubbish. We were in the tired part of Void City that Mr. Frank had always told us to avoid. As we walked, the streets became less and less street-like and Void City was finally living up to its name. Soon, the streets became desert and the only thing on the horizon was an old, hostile looking motel. As we got closer, I noted the electricity running through Void City was in short supply out here, but not completely gone. There was no buzz beneath my feet or glowing edges of buildings. Nonetheless, we ventured on. When we were merely a few metres away, I noticed a small girl who looked no older than seventeen on watch. She mumbled something into a homemade makeshift walkie-talkie before pulling out a brightly coloured ray gun.

"State your names and reasons for trespassing" she called over to us in a sugary, sweet tone. She didn't look as though she would actually pull the trigger.

We declared our names and to that she let out a small "hmph" before urging us to explain why we were there.

"We're here to talk to the Sunraes."

Before the girl could respond, the front door of the motel opened to reveal another girl, around our age, with red and black split dye hair, holding a ray gun.

Kiara spoke up "Clem?"

'Clem' must've been Kiara's friend, the one who told us about the Sunraes, because the next thing we knew, we were being led inside by the two girls. The first thing I noticed was the sound. This place was full of a different kind of energy to dSore Region, from beyond the foyer, I could hear a small amount of chatter and friendly banter. As we walked, 'Clem' started to make warm conversation. However, the smaller girl at her side seemed opposed to the idea of it, due to the fact that every time we answered a question she would release little sighs or tuts.

"So, what brings you to our neck of the woods?" 'Clem' asked, her dazzling smile almost hypnotic.

We were walking down a long hallway now, the walls were lined with doors, wall mounted lamps and coated in peeling, off-white wallpaper that looked older than all of us.

"We have a theory," I piped up,"and we were wondering if you could help us with some stuff."

I thought for a minute before speaking again. "Before I say anything though, when were you born?"

I admit, it sounded a lot better in my head, and not as creepy too, but I needed verification before I did anything else.

At this point, we were just stood in front of a door that looked different from the rest, in the dim lighting, I could see a thin string of light around the edges, showing us that this room was occupied and the door itself was a different type of wood, darker and , I assumed, stronger than the budget doors that were probably made in 2020.

The shorter girl opened her mouth to say a snarky "why?" but was drowned out by 'Clems' bubbly response of "I'm June 14th, 2105, and El here," she gestured towards the short girl with silver-blue hair and a frown,"is December 14th, 2105."

I gave my childhood friends a glance that said something along the lines of the conspiracy is true.

We heard a huge sigh,a door slam, and when we turned around, El had stormed off through the aforementioned door. I am surprised to this day that someone so small could release a sigh even half that size. Clem opened the door and started to lead us down a set of stairs, to what I assumed was the motel basement. It seemed we were walking towards the source of the chatter.

A voice piped up behind me.

"How many of you are there exactly?" Kiara asked, the nerves seemed to riddle her voice.

"Well," Clem started, deep in thought, "there's me, Necro, or as you know her, El, Misery, Mania, Kaleidoscope, and Izzi."

She paused before another door, the noise even louder now.

"Those are all real people?" Kyle pondered aloud.

"Yes, well, all except Izzi, but she's pretty damn near human. You see, we use codenames, pseudonyms, aliases- for safety." she said, before mumbling "you never know who is around."

Before we could respond, she was pushing us through the door and making everyone introduce themselves.

The room we were pushed into was spacious, sweet-smelling and filled with mismatched furniture. There were several people lounging on the four couches that held rank in the center of the room.

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder that belonged to Clem, then I heard her whispering down my ear, "and, before you confuse anyone, I no longer go by the name of Clemontine. My alias is Cyanide."

With that said, I was being pushed towards an empty space in the lounge area. I sat down, shortly to be followed by my friends. Cyanide, however, decided that couch cushions were too mainstream and felt she was more comfortable sitting on top of some poor boy with neon green hair.

"Everyone," she said with an award-winning grin, "meet my new friends and potential recruits."

There was a silence, in which we received multiple hostile glances from everyone in the room.

"Cy, we don't know these people, they could be working for Romats, and you've just let them walt in like they own the place."

I recognised the speaker as El, or as Cyanide said, 'Necro'.

"Shouldn't you be looking out for real threats? 'Cause last time I checked, you're on watch 'til seven."

With that, Necro stood up, threw a vicious glance at Cyanide, and left.

6.

Over the course of the morning, we discussed our human anomalies like how the twins are super-weapons or how I can cause migraines, and were introduced, personally, to the Sunraes. There was a guy with deep blue hair, bordering purple, who went by the name of Kaleidoscope. He was able to twist the walls and floors of a room using his cerebrum, hence the name Kaleidoscope. After that, a shock of strawberry pink hair stood in front of me with her arm outstretched. She told me her alias was Kleptomania. She didn't explain much about her ability, only that certain objects call out to her like sirens, and from that day onward, are bound to her existence. If she isn't able to get her hands on a particular object, it calls out to her consistently, begging to be stolen. The next person to speak to me was the neon green haired boy Cyanide had found comfort on. His name made a lot of sense, due to the fact it was probably a reference to his hair. Neon Misery. He was able to control and redirect electricity and circuits. Useful for blackouts I noted. The last person to introduce themself was strange. She had perfectly tamed, shiny, silver hair that fell just above her clavicles in one sharp angle. Her electric blue eyes seemed to glow in the dark and her pale white skin seemed to be the shade of death, but the edges of her form were practically emitting light. She introduced herself as Izzi. Strange, I thought, she doesn't have a codename. I asked her about that and she informed me that she was an old droid, used by the more important people in Clough Region, but when Romats started draining Clough's electricity supply, they went out of circulation. She was rescued by the Sunraes, who found her walking across Vinculum with a near-dead battery. The rest of the morning we sat, listening to the group tell tales of raids they've gone on, into dSore, Clough and The Wals. They go in, wreak a little havoc, steal some supplies and try to remind people that this isn't the way it has to be. It came to my attention that all of us were born on the fourteenth day of the month. This was too weird to be a coincidence.

At seven, Necro's shift ended. We didn't see her, but we heard her footsteps above us before a door shut heavily.

Kleptomania had just finished telling us all a story of how she once visited The Supreme, a trio of dragons as old as time itself and as tall as the stars, and ended up living with them for three years, when my stomach rumbled loudly. I glanced down and realised I hadn't eaten in a while, and my stomach wasn't going to let it slide.

Kaleidoscope must've noticed because he piped up, "who's for breakfast?"

He was answered by a range of hungry moans and eager "yes, please"'s.

He led the way back up the stairs, through the anomalous door, down the hall and to the dining area. There was a little hatch in one of the walls, and through it, I could see an old kitchen area. We spread out across the booths and two-seater tables, Neon and Cyanide deciding to sit impossibly close on one side of a booth, while Kiara sat opposite to them. Kyle and I occupied our own booth and everyone else grouped together around a few small tables that had been pushed together in the center of the room.

Kaleidoscope ducked through the hatch and the next thing we knew, he was placing multiple cans on the counter, along with a plastic tub of spoons.

"Breakfast," he said with a proud look on his face, "is served."

And with that everyone got up and grabbed a can and a spoon. I had never eaten breakfast out of a can before, but these guys opened their cans as if they had just finished a forty-year hunger strike. I decided to just go with it, this seemed to be the only food they had, and I wasn't going to argue. I was starving.

We sat back down, but this time, we were accompanied by Kaleidoscope. He sat down opposite us and glanced over at Kyle's somewhat confused face.

"I'm gonna say, you guys are from central, and you've never eaten like this before." he said, and boy, was he right.

"Well, let me tell you something," he said with a beautifully devilish smirk, "you haven't experienced a full range of flavours in one sitting until you've tried this stuff."

Kyle pulled the ring to his can before loading up his spoon and taking a bite of the strange coloured mess in front of him. His face contorted from hope to pure disgust as he grabbed a napkin to spit out the blended god-knows-what he had just tried to stomach. Kaleidoscope and I burst out with laughter as Kyle succeeded in swatting my arm, but with his strength, it came out more like a slap and instantly made a bruise.

"Ow, that was uncalled for!" I exclaimed, rubbing my ailment gently.

He apologized before leaving to join his twin.

"So, tell me about you." Kaleidoscope said before popping open his own can open and tucking in.

I followed suit and held my nose as I took my first bite.

"Well, what do you want to know? What is there left to know?"

He looked me dead in the eyes, which I noticed were a hazy sort of blue-purple, not unlike his hair, but I doubted his eyes were artificially coloured like his hair.

"There is plenty left to know about you, just because you told me the big things going on in your life, doesn't mean I know you." he thought for a minute, "what's your favourite colour?"

I giggled before realising he was serious.

"Um... I've never really given it much thought." I answered truthfully.

He faked disappointment before saying "this is one of those things you don't need to overthink or give much thought to. Pick a colour that you like and roll with it."

We sat in silence for a minute while I went through the colours in my head.

"Red."

"Bold. Vengeful. Some might say" he threw a melodramatic glance at me, "bloodthirsty."

At this point, we both started to laugh.

"Anyway, moving on." Another pause. "What's your alias?"

This question was one that I would have to give some thought to.

"I don't have one." I admitted.

"Well I figured that much, considering I know you by your birth name."

I took another minute to think, considered the fact that everyone else's name tied in with their ability, and then it came to me.

"Ravenous Headache." I said confidently.

"Neat." he said before clearing away our empty cans.

The rest of the day consisted of a tour around the motel and picking out Kiara and Kyle's pseudonyms. From this day onward, Kiara would be known as Toxic Spiral and Kyle would be Tragic Dancer.

We were introduced to Cyanide's greenhouse, but we were to eat nothing from inside it.

"Why?" I queried one morning, whilst sitting on one of the tables, watching her water a tree full of juicy, red apples.

"Because, young Raven, everything I grow is laced with poison." she stated, quite simply, the corner of her mouth turning upwards in a not-quite-smiley smile as if she was proud of the fact.

"Why'd you poison the apples? Couldn't we eat those instead of that sloppy brown stuff?" I asked as she moved on to her vegetable patch.

"These are weapons. I can't help poisoning this food, but believe me, if I could eat it and survive, I would."

I sat in silence like that for a while until a new question came to mind.

"Where do you get the seeds?"

I was quite proud of the question, and was curious for the answer as we were quite literally living in the middle of the desert.

"Sleep." she stated simply.

"Huh? What do you mean sleep?"

I wasn't following.

"When I dream, it's mostly of nature. And when I wake, my sheets are covered in seeds. It's as simple as that."

It didn't make sense, but that was okay, because nothing did these days.

7.

Over the next three years, we trained, went on raids, formed friendships and even managed to get Necro to lighten up to us. She eventually told us about how she was able to see into your afterlife by simply touching the back of your neck. I thought it was pretty cool but she said it was more of a curse than a blessing. Some of the people she had examined, well, let's just say, they weren't heading to a scenic spa retreat.

In training, we were taught how to harness our powers and use them in our defence. I trained with Kaleidoscope while Dance and Toxic trained with Mania and Neon. Scope and I had gotten really close, in the way that we were inseparable. We even fell asleep together sometimes, for comfort more than anything.

One afternoon, we were sitting in the basement, Misery on watch until midnight, when Cyanide spoke up.

"I think it's time we took action. When I went to central the other day, it looked half-dead. The electricity is being drained, and I think we all know who is giving the orders."

We all made agreeing noises before she spoke again.

"We're gonna need help though, if we're going to take down Romats. Mania?" she glanced over at the pink-haired girl who told the most exuberant tales.

"Can you take us to The Supreme?"

The shadow of a frown flitted over her face before she spoke.

"It'll be a long walk, there are no teleporters nearby, and unless we do another raid, we're not gonna have enough gas to take Belinda."

"We could do another raid, if only half of us go, then the other half can prepare Belinda and then we can be out of here ASAP."

Belinda was an old, and when I say old, I mean ancient, VW camper from the 1970's. We found her stranded in the desert last year, fixed her up and gave her a fresh coat of paint. Now, when teleporters aren't available, we use her.

The next morning, we were split into two groups. I was to stay at the motel with Izzy, Scope and Mania while Cyanide took Dance, Misery, Spiral and Necro. Our group was to pack Belinda with supplies and make sure everyone's ray gun was fully charged.

The other group returned at sunset with multiple gas cans and a few extra tins of food. We loaded them into Belinda before heading in and leaving Dance on watch. We all wanted a good night's sleep, so we didn't wait up talking in the basement.

Scope followed me to my room, which I had covered from floor to ceiling in a paint mural of a raven. It's large wings spread across two walls and it's head sat just below the roof.

"I can't believe we're finally going to do something about Romats." I said as I sank down to the mattress.

"I know, it feels like just yesterday we were choosing your alias." He fell into the space next to me and wound an arm around my shoulder.

We made light but comfortable conversation before falling asleep with small smiles on our faces.

The next morning, I awoke to the sun streaming through the slat blinds and the sound of Scope's slow breathing. I untangled myself from Scope and as I stood, I heard my spine make several cracks that made me regret sleeping in sitting position, but it was worth it for the face I woke up to.

"Hey," I said softly, giving him a soft nudge "Look alive, sunshine."

He let out a groan that was shortly followed by a glittering smile.

"I think you mean Sunrae."

I smirked at that and got up to use the bathroom.

After a breakfast of sludge, we all piled into Belinda. We were going to drive in shifts, starting with Mania. On the front bench next to her were Cyanide and Misery. Behind them were Izzi, Dance and Toxic, and behind them, in the expanded back, was Scope, Necro and me. Scope and I were the ones who found Belinda, so I named her after Scope's mother, who worked in the palace, but stopped writing letters and when he visited the palace, they denied her existence. In return, he painted her red, my favourite colour.

The ride was long and we spent it playing twenty questions, changing drivers and sleeping.

After about four days of non-stop driving, we reached our destination.

At first sight, it looked like a large, grey-brick wall, but as we got out of the van, we realised exactly how large it was. It continued up to the stars and what we thought was grey at first glance, was actually all the colours of the rainbow, but very subtly, like someone had spilt oil all over it. We took a moment to just purely breathe the wall. It seemed to glitter in the hot desert sunlight, light a sheen of sweat, but easier to appreciate. It was clearly magic, which meant we were in the right place. There was a sign where the words seemed to jumble until you looked directly at it. I tried to understand it, and eventually, it unscrambled to read; One may enter on the terms of one's belief. Mania steps forward at this point and starts to drag her hands across the rough surface of the wall before she grabs something, tangible but invisible, and a door appears. It was a simplistic, wooden door, that harnessed the same oily glow as the rest of the wall.

8.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Necro exclaimed as Mania stood there, staring through the doorway. "Are we going in or what?"

"Wait." Mania held up one finger. A large growl was ripped from the back of her throat as her usually green eyes turned a murky orange colour and her now red pupils shrank to pinpricks. The golden, sauna-like atmosphere of the desert turned cold and grey as lightning struck in the distance. Thunder clapped like an unsuspected jack-in -the-box and caught me off guard. I leapt into Scope's arms and he smirked momentarily before remembering that, for god's sakes, it doesn't rain in the desert. The wall before us tumbled down, like a sheet falling off a washing line to reveal three tall, aged dragons. Well, let's just say, the saying wasn't wrong, their tall, proud heads scraped the constellations above and they seemed to be antediluvian, despite their youthful shimmer. They seemed to flicker at the edges, like flames, yet they appeared so solid. That's magic for you. The one furthest to the left was pure white, with burning emerald green eyes while the one furthest right was deep, smooth black with piercing ice blue eyes. The central dragon however, was something else entirely. It was red, pure blood red with heterochromia. The left eye was black, through and through, where the right eye was a polar opposite, being pure white. The red dragon opened its mouth to speak, and as it did so, a soft, femenine voice came out.

"Eden?" she said, as she met Mania's gaze.

"Luci!" she exclaimed, still looking kind of demonic in the shadow of these three colossuses.

Someone cleared their throat behind me before speaking up.

"Wait a minute." the dragon's heads snapped in the direction of the speaker. "You're telling me that we drove four days, to meet a dragon called Lucifer!" Toxic was waving her hands in outrage now. "Did no-one think that Lucifer is the name of the Devil?"

The red dragon released a sigh and responded.

"Sweetie, I'm afraid you're mistaken. My name isn't Lucifer, I'm not the devil, it's actually just plain Luci."

She must've noticed how intimidated we were, because before we knew it, the three dragons had shrunk to become three, gentle-looking old women. They looked like your genuine grandma's, everything was perfectly placed, everything but their eyes. They seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. They were too big for their face, but at the same time, I couldn't imagine them smaller.

"How rude of me, I haven't introduced my sisters. This," she said, pointing at the emerald green-eyed woman next to her, "is Christa and this," she pointed to the woman on her other side, "is Ann." Both women acknowledged us with a nod and a prim smile.

"So, what brings you here?" it seemed like she was mostly speaking to Mania.

"A bunch of stuff really, you know the evil guy in charge of most of Clyphe Cliffs, well, we want to stop him. And we need your help."

The three women looked at us with sad looks in their eyes.

"There is one way of saving the Cliffs, but we don't even know if that would work." Ann said, pausing before speaking again. "And it would also mean you would have to die."

We looked at each other, shocked by this.

Cyanide took a deep breath before speaking.

"Give us a day to think about it."

We spent the night arguing over whether or not we go through with it. We were sat around a campfire, trying to heat up our tin cans to make them more appetising when Dance spoke up.

"I say we do it." his face was deadly serious, and to be honest, I'd never seen him like this before.

His suggestion was met with a few gasps of controversy and jeers of agreement.

"We have nothing in this world, except each other." he paused to take a measly bite of the tinned food in front of him. "If we all go, maybe it will balance out the world again. We'll go together, it'll be worth it if everyone else gets a better life."

He was convincing us until Cyanide opened her mouth.

"What about us? Don't we get a better life? There seem to be people in the city who already have pretty good lives, they don't need our help!"

There was a pause, everyone else was hanging on to their words with bated breath.

"Cy, the people in the city are miserable, and you know it! The ones who don't act miserable are the ones who have been brainwashed and drugged by the palace council. This is no way to live! You guys are all I have, we're all each of us need." He stood, probably to take a nap in Belinda, but before he turned his back completely, he said something more.

"I'm afraid we have reached our built-in expiration date."

And with that, he walked off.

Dance had us hooked on his words, because by the next morning, those of us who had objected to the idea had come around and decided it was for the best.

"You'll need to each stand at one of the points marked in red," Christa said as she produced a map from her pocket. "This way, you'll all be ready. Your lives are the only things holding the sky together, and the only way you can ever change the future is if you change the past."

A few questioning glances were thrown around like a basketball and as Scope went to open his mouth, Ann spoke.

"When you were born, there was an imbalance in the universe." she glanced at all of us individually. "Imagine every baby born is put on one of the plates of a scale. With every baby born, the scale alternates who goes where. They all grow up oblivious to the people on the other plate and the scale in general. No two people from opposing plates had ever met, until you were all born. Your births caused an imbalance in the system and this is the only way to reverse the chaos Romats had caused."

The Supreme gave us each an hourglass, and told us that when it breaks, it's time. The stars that we were born directly under would be directly above us and the world would be ready to be re-written. They explained that when the hourglasses break, Izzi would have to sneak into the palace and kill Romats, leave his body on the throne and cut the vital wires in her arm.

We headed out, each to our assigned post with a backpack full of tins and a head full of last words.

9.

Izzi was teleported to dSore Region to become a service droid for Emperor Romats, Necro went to the Clough mountain range, Cyanide went back to the Void City motel, Misery went to The Wals' docks, Dance and Toxic went to Mr.Frank's old bakery, now abandoned for many years after his untimely death, Mania went to the valley that split Clough and dSore, Scope was sent to central Void City and I went to the outskirts of dSore, a desert nearly identical to the one near Void City.

And we waited.

We waited for years and years, the hourglass never leaving my sight, and then one night, when I was nearing my late twenties, something happened. A large smash interrupted my thoughts. The first sound that I had heard in a while that wasn't generated by myself or the vultures.

I stare at the sand and broken hourglass, remembering how I got here. The flames of the fire in front of me swallow the unfortunate pieces of wood that fell into the fire pit when the antique time-counting device was smashed. I sit down with my tin can of non-perishable food that I would like to call ravioli but in reality looks more like a mixture of phlegm and wet cement. That was unimportant though, because I had a job to do and a promise to keep.

This evening, we reminisce.

First, I reminded myself of a time when I saw them just yesterday. Reminded myself of a time filled with colour, smiles and love. It's been a long ride, and as much as it feels I am dying alone, I know that I am going with the people I love. Years of premeditated isolation and calculated silence, I didn't care that there was no-one around, I was going to have my last words. My mind goes to what someone would say if they were to find me. Late twenties, female, cause of death? Spontaneous Human Combustion. Would they see my strangely coloured hair and know I'm one of the Sunraes? Or would they search my body for a form of identification? Take my gun and boots and be off? Probably. I wasn't going to be forgotten, so I decided I was going to do something about it. I head into my little steel shack and grab my can of spray paint and before I know it, I'm hard at work creating my last piece of art. Once I'm content with my work, I sit, and I wait. The fire soon dies, and before long, I feel myself slipping away. Tunnel vision kicks in so all I can see is the last few embers of a once roaring flame. I release my last words, like smoke escaping a burning building.

"Hello, my dear, it's been too long."

My eyes shut and I 

s t a r t 

t o 

d r i f t 

o f f .

The desert.

1:37am.

The stars disbanded and the past thirty years were rewritten.

The citizens of Clyphe Cliffs are happily sleeping, their forms clean of any narcotics or sedatives.

No-one has ever heard of Emperor Romats.

No-one has ever heard of the Void City Sunraes either.

A spray painted mural lies uncovered by the sand around it.

It reads: My name is River Smythe. I was here. And, then I wasn't.

The picture above it is of a familiar skyline, and a raven passing over it.

Tandem


End file.
